Work Tote

My parents wanted to get me a nice "lawyer bag" for graduation. Little did I know, finding a quality office/court-appropriate bag to tote around would prove to be ridiculously difficult.

The totes I found were either:

a) too small 

       I don't need a weekender, just something to fit some files and at least a laptop.

b) too flimsy 

       Ideally, I was looking for something sturdy enough to stand on its own.

c) too fashionable* or 

      Black or brown leather. Boring. But necessary.

d) actually a diaper bag

     True story. Every single bag I was drawn too came with a changing pad haha.

*I'm all for fashionable work bags, believe me. But certain bags are just not made for most office settings (or, especially, not made for court): patent leather, bright colors, flashy prints, designers' monogram plastered all over it, polka dots, etc.

I wasn't interested in spending their life savings on this gift, but I wanted (and they wanted for me, of course) a nice, quality, durable bag that was designed to really last. As it turned out, a great, functional, appropriate bag was really hard to find! I narrowed it down to my go-to, favorite designers and checked them all out in person before making a decision. So, for anyone else who is in the market for a similar bag, I put together a little list of my top picks. {Based on: simplicity of design, durability, quality of materials/leather, space, and personal preference!}

1. Tory Burch

2. Kate Spade

3. Michael Kors

4. Michael Kors

5. Tory Burch

I settled on the Kate Spade. It is really well-made ~ sturdy, great interior pockets/storage, and easily can accommodate files and a computer without anything poking out the top or sides. It definitely looks like a "work bag" and not a purse - which is exactly what I was going for. duh. I gave my new lawyer bag a trial run at my first big girl job interview last week and further confirmed my choice -- I love it! 

Would I rather have spent that kind of $$$ on 15 other dumb little things? Probably. But all this to say, I'm happy to have found a work tote that I will (hopefully) use for a verrrry long time. And since it wasn't as easy of a search process as I initially expected... it was worth taking the time to really look and hopefully my research and testing of these silly bags will prove to be helpful to someone else who embarks on the same search down the road ;)

Anyone else have work tote favorites to share?? I'd love to have more options/ideas to pull from for future reference!

Summer Dreaming

While I'm cooped up inside studying for the dreaded Bar exam all summer... my mind is drifting from boring contracts and property lectures to fantasies of summery sangria, bright beautiful centerpieces, fruity foods and fun warm-weather fashion.

Sadly, most days as of late I don't get out of pajamas or put on a bra until after noon. I'm doing my best to at least run a brush through my hair before my poor husband gets home... but even that is not something I'm managing to do on the reg. {On the up side, I won't have to buy new make-up at this rate until about 2015.}

8 more weeks.

Until then... here is where my little (and overcrowded. and exhausted.) brain is wandering.

Dream on.

Raspberry and Serrano Sangria... need to make this asap!

These Jamba Juice recipes look sooo refreshing! Smoothies = brain food :)

I'm loving citrus + floral centerpieces for summer entertaining.

Super healthy strawberry shortcake muffins - these look like a perfect summer breakfast/brunch addition!

I'm daydreaming about this entire outfit... and also dreaming of a long toned arms/legs to go inside the clothes...

Thanks to my black thumb and no time, this will continue to be a pipe dream for basically... well, forever.

And with that, my 10-minute study break is up. Back to Professor Poke-Your-Eyes-Out-Boring for the remainder of the morning.

Go enjoy some summer fun for me, will ya?? :)

Brooke Michelle

The long-awaited birth of our precious niece finally arrived last week!

Brooke Michelle was born on May 14th.

Her perfect little cheeks weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz.
She has stolen our hearts and we can't wait to get our hands on her next month!!!

Her first picture!

Cutest little burrito

One of my faves!

"No more pictures please..."

"Excuse me... someone get me outta here!"

So precious!!!!!

Despite being hundreds of miles away, we feel like we know this little bean already thanks to (almost hourly) pictures from my in-laws! We're an aunt/uncle... what a cool, special, amazing thing! We can't wait to watch this little girl grow. Her birth has made us really anxious to move back closer to family so that we can be part of her life on a more regular basis :)

Brooke ~ you have only been on this planet for a few short days and already you are so loved!!! Your auntie and uncle can't wait to spoil you rotten....... in fact, I'm headed out right now to mail you a (another...) present! xoxo

Lamp Shade DIY

As many of you know, moving is ex.pen.sive! No matter how hard to you try to keep things cheap... the cost of boxing and moving your stuff is never the only expense. Trying to fill a space that is quite a bit bigger than our last obviously has required purchasing some new stuff. Since we know we won't be living here longer than a year {depressing, let's not talk about it} I've had to really reign myself in and only buy what we need and not get everything I want since most of it probably won't be coming with us. There will definitely be some walls that remain blank and some spaces that remain empty in this house, but we're ok with that!

Aren't we? Ya, ya, ok... we are.

Homegoods and Target have been my go-to stores for the odds and ends we've needed to make this place feel "finished" ~ wall shevles, faux plants, rugs, lamps, etc. One room I really wanted to make feel complete was the office... since that's where I'll spend 90% of my summer studying for the bar exam. I tried to keep the room bright and fun, and for the most part I used things we already owned. The only new additions to the room are the rug under my desk, the floating shelves on the wall, and the lamp.

My study space

Our bright, happy vision boards

Andrew's adjusting table gets a place to live in the new office too!

We never had a desk lamp, and it always annoyed us when we'd study at night... to the point where we just didn't study in the office. So I picked up this plain white lamp at Target (the RE line, it was like $7 I think). The white shelves and lamp against the lighter-than-our-old-apartment wall color looked really blah. But in the interest of saving $$$ I decided to just fancy up what I already had rather than running out to buy new stuff!

Using a 40% off coupon at Michaels, I picked up some white rosette ribbon ($6) and pulled out some fabric glue I had on hand from the dollar store ($2). After cutting the ribbon down to fit the base of the lamp shade, applying a thin line of fabric glue (x3), pressing on the ribbon and letting it dry... I had a fancy pants lamp that I love in under 5 minutes and for about $12.

Plain lamp before

Ribbon and fabric glue

Glue...

Ta-da!

It looks the cutest when the room is lit only by the lamp light... but this is really hard to capture well using my phone. {Still no sign of our camera, for those of you following along!} I had some ribbon left over, so I decided to glue a little embellishment on the mason jars I am using to hold pens and highlighters too.

Can you notice a difference??

Cute and easy!

Before & After

There ya go. An easy, inexpensive way to add a little interest to an other wise boring lamp! I'm excited to have something a little prettier to stare at while listening to online lectures for hours on end about subjects far less exciting than home decor... :)